The Cedars of God
The cedars of Lebanon are mentioned in the Bible more than seventy times. Solomon cut them for the Temple in Jerusalem. The psalmists used them as images of God's own planting. The prophets used them as warnings against pride. For thousands of years before any of those texts were written, the great forests of the Lebanese mountains were already ancient, and the wood they yielded was already the most valued building material in the ancient Near East.
Today, a grove of roughly four hundred cedars survives at the head of the Qadisha Valley, on the slopes of Mount Makmel above the town of Bsharri. The site is called Horsh Arz el-Rab, the Forest of the Cedars of the Lord, and it has been inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1998. Four of the trees are over a thousand years old. Some may be closer to three thousand.
The Cedars in the Bible
No tree appears more often in Scripture than the cedar of Lebanon. Its wood was the gold of the ancient builder: light, fragrant, resistant to decay and insects, and strong enough to span the widest rooms. The biblical writers used the cedar in every register, from literal construction to the highest metaphor.
The Temple of Solomon
The most famous biblical use of Lebanese cedar is the construction of the Temple in Jerusalem by King Solomon, around 960 BC. Solomon contracted with Hiram, king of Tyre, for the supply of cedar and cypress from the mountains of Lebanon. Thirty thousand Israelites were conscripted to fell and transport the timber in rotating shifts of ten thousand per month (1 Kings 5:13-14). The cedar lined the interior walls and ceiling of the Temple, carved with figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers (1 Kings 6:18).
Solomon also built the "House of the Forest of Lebanon," a royal building supported by forty-five pillars of Lebanese cedar (1 Kings 7:2). Earlier, David had used cedar from Lebanon to build his own palace (2 Samuel 5:11). The Temple and the palaces of Israel were, in a real sense, buildings made of Lebanon.
The cedar as symbol of the righteous
Psalm 92:12 reads, "The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon." The image is of a life deeply rooted, growing slowly, reaching great height and great age, and enduring long after the things around it have fallen. The cedar does not rush. It stands.
The cedar as God's own planting
Psalm 104:16: "The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted." The grove was not cultivated by human hands. It was planted by God. This verse is the origin of the Arabic name Arz el-Rab, "Cedars of the Lord."
The cedar as allegory of kingdoms
Ezekiel uses the cedar twice as a political allegory. In chapter 17, a great eagle breaks a sprig from the top of a cedar and replants it; in chapter 31, Assyria is compared to "a cedar in Lebanon, with fair branches and forest shade, and of great height," a mighty kingdom that God brings low for its pride (Ezekiel 31:3). Isaiah strikes the same note: "Against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up" (Isaiah 2:13), the Day of the Lord will come.
The cedar as beauty and fragrance
The Song of Songs invokes Lebanon's cedars as images of beauty and desire. "His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as the cedars" (Song of Songs 5:15). Hosea promises restoration in language drawn from the cedar groves: "His beauty shall be like the olive tree, and his fragrance like Lebanon" (Hosea 14:6).
The cedar as parable
In 2 Kings 14:9, King Jehoash of Israel mocks Amaziah of Judah with a fable: "A thistle in Lebanon sent to a cedar in Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son for a wife,' and a wild beast of Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle." The cedar is the great power. The thistle is the small one who does not know its place.
The Cedars and the Maronite Tradition
The cedar grove at Bsharri sits at the head of the Qadisha Valley, the cradle of Maronite monasticism. The valley's cliff monasteries, among them Qannubin (which served as the seat of the Maronite Patriarchate for centuries), Qozhaya, and Our Lady of Hawqa, are less than an hour's walk below the grove. For the Maronite faithful, the cedars and the valley are a single sacred landscape.
A Maronite chapel stands at the center of the cedar forest. An annual Mass is celebrated there to honor the trees. In the sixteenth century, the Maronite Church issued an edict threatening excommunication for anyone who damaged the cedars, one of the earliest conservation decrees in history.
The cedar is the centerpiece of the Lebanese flag, the emblem of the national airline, and a motif on the currency. For Lebanese Christians, and for Maronites in particular, the cedar is inseparable from national identity. It is the tree that God planted, the tree that Solomon coveted, and the tree that still stands on the mountain above the holy valley.
Visiting the Cedars of God
Getting there
The grove is located east of Bsharri, at an altitude of roughly 1,900 to 2,050 meters, about 120 to 130 kilometers from Beirut. The drive takes two to three hours. Options include rental car, private taxi, or organized tours that typically combine the cedars with the Qadisha Valley and a lunch stop.
Best time to visit
Spring (March to May) for wildflowers and snowmelt; autumn (September to November) for mild weather and the cedars' deep green against the turning hillsides. Summer is popular but hotter at lower altitudes. Winter brings skiing at the nearby Cedars ski resort, and the grove is reachable on foot from the village.
What to see
The grove itself. Walking paths wind through the ancient trees, some with trunks twelve to fourteen meters in circumference. Four specimens reach thirty-five meters in height. The largest trees are cordoned off for protection, but you walk among their kin.
The Maronite chapel. A small chapel stands in the grove. Mass is celebrated here, especially on the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross (September 14).
The Gibran Museum, Bsharri. Housed in a former monastery, the museum displays the paintings, manuscripts, and personal effects of Khalil Gibran, Lebanon's most famous literary figure, who was born in Bsharri and buried in the monastery's grotto.
The Qadisha Valley. Hiking trails connect the cedar grove to the valley floor, passing cliff monasteries and hermitages along the way. The valley is a UNESCO World Heritage site in its own right.
Conservation
Lebanon retains about seventeen square kilometers of cedar, roughly 0.4 percent of its estimated ancient extent. The forests that once covered the Lebanese mountains were logged over millennia by Phoenicians, Egyptians, Babylonians, Romans, and Ottomans. What remains is precious and increasingly fragile.
Climate change is the most serious current threat. The eastern Mediterranean is warming faster than the global average, and Lebanon's government projects a two-degree Celsius temperature rise and a twenty-percent rainfall decrease by 2040. Cedars need cold, humid conditions and are retreating to higher altitudes. The cedar web-spinning sawfly, an insect pest that thrives in warmer, drier conditions, is causing damage in several groves.
Reforestation efforts are underway. The Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture has launched a plan to plant forty million native trees, including cedars, by 2030. The NGO Jouzour Loubnan has planted over three hundred thousand trees in a decade. The groves are now declared nature reserves and managed jointly with the Ministry of Environment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are they called the Cedars of God?
The Arabic name is Horsh Arz el-Rab, "Forest of the Cedars of the Lord." The name reflects the ancient belief that these trees were planted by God, echoing Psalm 104:16: "The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted."
Are there still cedar trees in Lebanon?
Yes, but only a tiny fraction of the ancient forests survive. Lebanon retains about seventeen square kilometers of cedar, roughly 0.4 percent of its estimated historical extent. The Cedars of God grove near Bsharri, with around four hundred trees, is the most famous and most protected remnant.
Why were the cedars of Lebanon important in the Bible?
Cedar wood was prized for its durability, fragrance, and resistance to decay and insects, making it the ideal material for Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. The Bible mentions the cedars of Lebanon more than seventy times, using them as symbols of strength, righteousness, divine provision, and the beauty of creation.
Can you visit the Cedars of God?
Yes. The grove is a UNESCO World Heritage site, open to visitors year-round, with walking paths through the ancient trees. It is located east of Bsharri, about 120 kilometers from Beirut. The nearby Qadisha Valley, Gibran Museum, and Cedars ski resort are often visited on the same trip.
What is the connection between the cedars and the Maronite Church?
The cedar grove sits at the head of the Qadisha Valley, the cradle of Maronite monasticism. The Maronite Church issued an excommunication decree in the sixteenth century to protect the cedars, and a Maronite chapel still stands in the grove. The cedar on the Lebanese flag is inseparable from Maronite and Lebanese identity.
See also: The Qadisha Valley. Annaya Monastery. Our Lady of Lebanon (Harissa). Saint Maron. The Maronite tradition.